Spear fishing in the Balearic Islands (west central Mediterranean): species affected and catch evolution during the period 1975–2001

Abstract

Catch and effort records of spear fishing competitions since 1975, in the Balearic Islands, have been used as a tool to study the temporal evolution of rocky littoral fishery resources. Competition spear fishing affected over 30 species, among which the most abundant were Diplodus sargus, Symphodus tinca, Labrus merula and Mugilidae. A decreasing trend over time for the mean CPUE (kg fisherman −1 h −1 ) was shown. Epinephelus marginatuswas a key species in the evolution of the CPUE, since individuals weighing more than 4 kg diminished drastically after 1987. The species recorded as largest specimens clearly changed since this date, showing a serial depletion process. These results taken as a whole describe a situation of overfishing for some target fish inhabiting rocky bottoms between 0 and 40 m. Both recreational and competition spear fishing seem to have had an important effect on these resources and probably contributed to the lack of profitability of some traditional and highly selective fishing gears. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.